Diplomat row hits Fijians wanting Christmas visas

TODD CLEAVER: The family packed clothes and toys but left bank accounts, cars and other matters in limbo in Suva.

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Fijians hoping to visit New Zealand for Christmas have been hit by the closure of the New Zealand high commission in Suva.

The high commission issues 20,000 visas a year but was shut after mission acting head Todd Cleaver was expelled this week.

Mr Cleaver said yesterday that his deportation at 24 hours' notice had been "pretty rough" for his young family. He did not stick around to find out if his physical safety was at risk.

"It has been rather distressing. On Wednesday morning I had to tell my son to go to school and say goodbye to his friends, which is a pretty hard thing to do to a six-year-old."

He said his family had packed enough clothes and toys to get by but had left bank accounts, cars and other matters in limbo in Suva and had no house to return to in New Zealand.

He was kicked out, apparently for interference with Fiji's judiciary and for a delay in processing a visa application so Fijian judge Anjala Wati could bring her sick child to New Zealand. Those claims were emphatically denied by Mr Cleaver and Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully.

At a press conference, Mr Cleaver said he had recommended Judge Wati's application be approved and it was handled the same way as others.

Mr McCully said it was peak time for issuing visas and the closure would also affect Tuvalu and Kiribati nationals who needed to apply for visas in Suva. Fijian authorities were "prepared to make it difficult for us to operate a service that is exclusively for their benefit".

Prime Minister John Key said earlier that he could not see how it was in Fiji's interests to cause staff numbers to be depleted at the high commission.